House remodel : Week one

We have survived the first 8 days of our house remodel and we're still smiling, helped enormously by the blue skies and sunshine...

The scaffolders have spent a total of 5 days on site and still have another half day to do. Our house is now surrounded by metal and wrapped in plastic. If anyone were to ask me where we lived, I'd no longer be pointing vaguely at a patch of trees with a tiny roof peeking out, instead I'd be indicating at one of the largest visible structures for miles around. In fact such is the interest we have created locally, that I actually see people craning their necks as they go past the house trying to get a better look.

The builders arrived last Monday. They've knocked through to create our new sitting room and wider hall (to accommodate the staircase) and they've dug huge pits and channels in the garden to create the new soakaways for the roof. They are a family team who we've known for many years and I have to say that's making the whole experience more enjoyable.

The insulated cabin for the garden was built on site on Monday and Tuesday of last week and Jim and I spent the weekend painting it inside and out (with lots more still to do.) Externally we are painting it the same magical colour as our weatherboard on the house will be. It's called Squirrel Grey (or Boothbay Blue) and depending on the light, looks either grey or blue. I can tell you that when you open the tin it looks dull and grey and nothing like these photos, I was quite worried for a moment!

And how apt to have a paint that miraculously changes from grey to blue... I still can't get over quite how lucky we have been with the change of weather. We arbitrarily picked the beginning of March as our start date for the build and the weather switched right on cue, when does that ever happen?

PS - My lovely robin mug in top picture kindly supplied by iwoot.com from their gorgeous Magpie range